Tag Archives: Dioramas

There’s nothing like a massive LEGO diorama to prove that you’ve arrived as a LEGO builder. The LEGO dioramas we feature here span everything from realistic medieval castles to scenes from World War II, and more than a few post-apocalyptic wastelands.

A slice of fantasy life

Here’s a great example of how effective composition can turn a LEGO scene into something special. This slice of landscaping from Sergeant Chipmunk is a nice model of two warriors meeting on a smartly-constructed bridge. The surrounding scenery is nicely-done — the layers creating the gradients around the small stream are fantastic, and I like the amount of detail going on with the campsite and animal life. However, what really catches the eye is the way the bridge cuts across the diorama in a dramatic diagonal, and how the framing walls follow the contours making it feel like a slice of terrain cut from a genuine fantasy world. Wonderful stuff.

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There’s room for all at Space Base H17

Growing up, my brother and I used to pull out all our gray and blue LEGO and build sprawling space bases on our bedroom floor. We couldn’t imagine more than thirty years ago how much bigger and better future LEGO creations would be, like this amazing diorama by ZCerberus. The base has landing pads for ten ships and incorporates over a hundred lights.

The ships and vehicles are also excellent, and the builder spares no detail — just take a look at that gorgeous brick-built Classic Space logo on the side of the main building! My favorite vehicle is the large gray vehicle on the right, pumping some kind of mineral from a great big hole in the planet’s surface.

In the laboratory with Madame Curie

As every schoolchild knows, Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only person to win one in two different fields (Physics in 1903 and Chemistry in 1911). Sadly, this Polish-French luminary of science died young due to her work understanding the nature of radiation. Polish builder Crises_CRS has captured Madame Curie in her laboratory, surrounded by the equipment she used to discover Polonium and Radium.

The Polish LEGO club Zbudujmy is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence this year with a series of LEGO creations. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what’s in store from this very talented community of builders.

A luxury audio setup for a fraction of the price

Once in a while you’ll come across a LEGO build that you need to stare at for a few seconds to realise that it’s actually made out of bricks. This selection of audio gear by Quy Chau is the best example in a while. There’s so many clever uses of parts and great scaling that it’s impossible to pick a standout, but the use of various automotive pieces does it for me. Wheels are used here for speakers, dials and subwoofers, and a steering wheel piece makes the best earphone cups I have ever seen.

Moog Sub Phatty

If you’re confused by the name of this build on Flickr, “Moog Sub Phatty”, it’s the synthesizer which sits in the middle of this scene. This is, of course, also a phenomenal build. Those dials are regular Technic friction pins with grey bars through them — a really simple technique that adds a lot to the build. Finally, the keys do depress, but they don’t pop back up.

End the Resistance on the mineral planet of Crait

The 2017 game Star Wars Battlefront II allows players to experience Star Wars battles unlike what is seen on the big screen. First Order Lego captures a snapshot of such freedom with a diorama of the Battle of Crait. The layer of salt carpeting the red soil and crystal underneath is textured well, with cracks and unevenness throughout upon closer look.

Click to see more of the Battle of Crait

Out-of-this-world LEGO Space hangar

We’ve featured some of Jon Blackford‘s Neo-Classic LEGO Space creations before, but his latest model — a huge maintenace hangar — takes things to a whole new level. The stellar work on the hangar walls manages to avoid this being a “big grey box” — they’re a triumph of sci-fi flavoured texture, with every corner and surface decorated with delicious greebly bits or cool-looking structural elements. The brick-built floor is excellent too — check out those floor markings…

Click to see more of this amazing LEGO Space scene

Forest hovel is not too shabby

Not every fantasy character lives in a big grey castle or Tudor-styled town. However, those are the typical LEGO models we tend to see in Castle-themed building. Tirrell Brown‘s forest hovel makes a pleasant change of scene. The central building is nicely put-together, with a depth of texture creating a somewhat dilapidated feel. But it’s the overall colour scheme which catches the eye and elevates this composition. The colour gradient on the shaped base is particularly good, and the background trees fit perfectly. Those rocks and the small pond are nice touches of detail too.

Nasty green water, gangsters, crime in the streets! Sounds cool doesn’t it? Because it sure looks like it.

Cyperpunk is one of my favorite themes to build in LEGO, so naturally I love this cyberpunk diorama by Letranger Absurde, and I have no doubt you will too. Although the diorama is not as run-down and dilapidated as we are used to seeing in the genre, it serves as a perfect example of the distinction between cyberpunk and cyberpoc, the latter of which is much more ugly looking. The build is packed with tons of interesting details, including a guitar player who has set out a hat for donations, a sushi stand on the docks, and an unfortunate fellow who’s being pulled into the storm drain by a monster.

The colorful pollution in the water was accomplished using Ninjago dragon wings, a truly ingenious usage of the part.

Click here to see more pictures of this amazing cyberpunk diorama

Log houses never looked this good

In the LEGO creations of today, it seems as though technique is being emphasized more than ever before, especially within the castle genre. It seems as though not a day goes by when I don’t see an innovative way of making an everyday texture. This build by alego alego features a wonderfully designed blacksmith shop, primarily made using various Technic connector parts as individual logs. While I have used one or two of these parts as a single log in my own builds, I never would have conceived of making a whole building out of them, and the result is fantastic.

Check out these posts below for more amazing landscaping techniques:

Musicians will be bricking it when playing at this amazing LEGO concert hall

The University of Colorado Boulder has an ongoing project to construct a LEGO version of its campus, built by a team of LEGO builders. Imagine Rigney has just finished building a LEGO version of the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, where dozens of major College of Music performances take place each season. The auditorium is over a century old, and its Neo-Gothic architecture style has been nicely captured in LEGO bricks

Click to see the inside of the concert hall

A sleigh to avoid dismay

In justin_m_winn‘s latest build, it seems that Santa is having a bit of a tough time tending to all of his obligations this time of year. What will the children of the world do? Have no fear, Benny is here! With the help of some jet-powered reindeer and a spiffy Classic Space sleigh, he should be able to make sure that everything is ok.

Too much technology for a barn to handle

Sometimes, a LEGO creation (or any work of art, really) can be vague, with the viewer not being sure what it is supposed to be. Sometimes, creators themselves are not sure what their creation is. This is somewhat true for AdNorrel and his latest build, the “Coordination center.” While it is obvious that the scene is supposed to be some sort of high-tech beacon or communication hub, AdNorrel says he was more inspired to follow a specific image he imagined rather than try to justify it logically.

Moving from top to bottom, the glowing sphere at the apex is slightly reminiscent of a futuristic blue Eye of Sauron. The texture on the tower is interesting, as most builders would just go for an intense mix of hoses, gears and other logical-looking details without much coordination, but AdNorrel focuses on geometric shapes that are only later complimented by all sorts of technical bits. The hoses give the whole creation a bit better of a flow, connecting the tower with the grassy landscape directly. The tower and the barn join seamlessly, but still showing the strange metallic beacon bursted out through the roof at some point. The base needs mentioning too; while it does not really have much on it besides the barn and the … thing, it manages to look good with a smoothed out border and a healthy mix of stones and grass.